By now, you have all heard that the bailout was defeated (despite my congressman's voting for it - he lost my vote in November). Here is an interesting article on why bankruptcy is better than bailout written by one of the 200 166 economists who opposed the bailout in the first place.

Excerpt:

The obvious alternative to a bailout is letting troubled financial institutions declare bankruptcy. Bankruptcy means that shareholders typically get wiped out and the creditors own the company.

Bankruptcy does not mean the company disappears; it is just owned by someone new (as has occurred with several airlines). Bankruptcy punishes those who took excessive risks while preserving those aspects of a businesses that remain profitable.

Well, the powers that be have come to a consensus and have proposed the updated version of the bailout. I think that it would be a lot better for the economy to FORCE the mortgage companies to restructure many of their shitty loans and use that $700,000,000,000 to fund it. Of course, the new proposal is $250,000,000,000 at a time.

No matter what your opinion of the bailout is, you better AT LEAST call your local representative. You probably should also call your 2 Senators and tell them what you think. I definately say call your congressman because he is up for re-election and will listen to his/her constituents. No matter what happens, the economy is going to suffer further and if they vote against what their voters want, they are going to get voted out.

Also, you might want to try calling both the local office AND the washington office. Why? Well...I tried calling my Senators' DC offices today. Arlen Specter's line is busy. Robert Casey's mailbox is full. I was able to contact them at the local office. But if you call AND get through on both lines, you will let your voice be heard twice.

Do yourself a favor and only call YOUR Senators and your ONE Congressman. Don't call Ron Paul unless you live in his district in Texas. Don't call Obama unless you live in Illinois.

Now...for my opinion:

You know what will happen if we spend the $700,000,000,000 to buy all those worthless mortgages? Supposedly credit will be easier to get. But wasn't that the problem in the first place? Wasn't the problem that people were taking out mortages on houses that they couldn't afford, so they could live above their means? You know what? Maybe we should only take out credit when we are capable of paying it back.

Do you really think that THIS bailout will be the one that works? We have already spent $300,000,000,000 on bailing out AIG and Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. If we do this, we will have spent...now get ready for it: $1,000,000,000,000 to fix this fucked up economy. Oh, by the way...when we print this money to buy those worthless mortgages from Wall Street, you know what that does to your savings? It devalues it. Alluva sudden, $1 today is worth $0.90 tomorrow. If you earn $30 in interest at 5% in a year, you still are effectively losing $30 (at 10% inflation you gain $30, lose $60).

And what happens if we don't do this bailout. They say that people will lose jobs. They say the economy will stop working. They say that companies won't be able to get everyday loans to keep their businesses running (does a healthy business need everyday loans to make payroll?). They say that mortgages will be more expensive unless you have perfect credit. Should we just trust them? What ever happened to those Weapons of Mass Destruction, anyway?

When I call my Senators and Congressman tomorrow, I will let them know (only my Congressman is up for re-election), that if they vote for this bailout, they will be losing my vote for them.

But if they were to include Sirius XM in their bailout, I will forgive them and give them my vote back.

A unknown Mount Olive, NJ Police Officer shot a yellow lab twice with his shotgun because it was agressive. He didn't call Wayne County Animal Control. He ignored the pleas of the next door neighbor that the dog wouldn't hurt anyone. Just bang.

Since Sierra won't let me add this to our official registry, I am adding the Beer-Belly Deluxe here. Is there a better way to spend $50? It comes with the "pleasure extender"! So what if it looks like the fake pregnancy vests.

The California Secretary of State comissioned the University of California, Santa Barbara to perform an evaluation of the Sequoia voting system that California uses to ensure democracy. Read about how EASY it is to subvert our way of life.

Here is a link to the video that shows it all (3gp is some Quicktime movie format). Voter fraud is treason.